Company Profile

Orchid BioSciences is a leading provider of DNA testing services for the human and animal identity markets. Orchid's strong market position in the forensic, paternity, immigration and food safety segments are built on the company's accredited laboratories in the U.S. and U.K., its innovative genetic analysis technologies and expertise, and the world-renowned Cellmark and GeneScreen brands that have been associated with exceptional quality, reliability and customer service since the mid-1980s. Orchid's acquisitions of leading DNA laboratories made it one of the world's first DNA testing service providers, and its history of pioneering innovative genetic analysis techniques have enabled the company to remain at the forefront as a technology and business leader, while also helping to advance the worldwide markets in which it operates.

Orchid has an established infrastructure of six accredited laboratories in the U.S. and U.K. that support its strategy of leadership in the identity DNA testing market, which the company believes represents the largest commercial opportunity in DNA testing existing today. Genetic differences between individuals and animals are most commonly identified by genotyping - the analysis of the unique genetic make-up of an organism. Over the last two decades, Orchid has developed a number of cutting-edge genotyping methods to create DNA profiles, including its proprietary techniques to analyze single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs. SNPs are single base changes in DNA and represent the most abundant form of genetic variation. Orchid is leveraging its SNP technology and expertise in a number of areas where SNPs provide operational or competitive advantage.

Forensic DNA TestingOrchid is one of the largest private DNA forensic testing service providers in the world, with an international network of four forensic testing laboratories in the U.S. and U.K. The company provides a full range of high quality, customized forensic DNA testing services, including identification of victims of accidents and disasters, criminal casework analysis and expert testimony, convicted offender DNA databasing, no-suspect casework for government law enforcement laboratories, and DNA testing and consultative services for the defense bar as well as for the prosecution. Orchid's services have been selected by major police departments and for many high profile criminal investigations. Orchid's forensic testing facilities have earned the highest accreditations in the industry. The company's three U.S. forensic testing facilities have all earned the prestigious ASCLD/LAB accreditation, a designation awarded to only a few private forensic DNA laboratories, and the company holds many additional accreditations and certifications in the U.S. and the U.K.

Orchid uses a variety of genetic analysis methods for its forensic DNA studies. The company has furthered its reputation as an innovator by collaborating with the New York City Medical Examiner's Office to conduct SNP-based genotyping tests to help identify the large number of 9/11 World Trade Center victims for whom other methods have failed. Orchid is also exploring the use of SNPs in other difficult cases involving degraded samples, and has contracts in place to fund the development of advanced techniques.

Paternity and Relationship DNA TestingOrchid is one of the largest paternity testing providers in the world, with accredited laboratories in the U.S. and U.K. Orchid has analyzed millions of samples over the last two decades in its provision of DNA testing services to determine the parentage of a child and other familial relationships for both public and private sector customers. Orchid is the market leader for publicly funded paternity testing in North America, and the company has also recently increased its market share in the rapidly growing private paternity sector. Orchid also provides DNA testing services to many countries to confirm an inidividual's identity in both immigration and adoption cases, and recently launched IDSecure™, a service designed to ensure that workers on high-risk assignments can be accurately identified in the event of an emergency or accident.

Food Safety DNA TestingSince 2001, Orchid has been a major supplier of genotyping services offered to U.K. sheep farmers under the government's National Scrapie Plan, the largest program in the world designed to help farmers breed sheep with reduced susceptibility to the mad cow-like prion disease scrapie. Orchid also provides scrapie tetsing services to a number of other European countries using its highly automated laboratory process with state-of-the-art robotics and integrated computer tracking and genotyping scoring systems. Building on its expertise in scrapie testing, Orchid is providing meat traceability DNA testing for Maple Leaf Foods, the largest pork producer in Western Canada. This program is designed to enable Canadian pork to be traced in a matter of hours from the store shelf back to the farm and even to the maternal sow. Orchid also currently provides a cattle traceability testing services to an undisclosed European country to help in the detection and prevention of fraud.

BackgroundOrchid was founded in 1995 as a spin-off of the Sarnoff Corporation and completed its IPO in May 2000. Since its inception, Orchid has successfully completed and integrated four acquisitions: Molecular Tool in 1998, GeneScreen in 1999, and both Lifecodes Corporation, including U.S.-based Cellmark Diagnostics, and U.K.-based Cellmark Diagnostics in 2001.